A fun visit

Last night we have the extreme pleasure of meeting a good friend for dinner. We have known Kendall since college. She and her family recently moved from Canada to San Antonio. It is such a joy to have them back in state (even though we didn't get to come visit!) She was in town for a business meeting and we met up for dinner at Cafe Express. This was the first time Kendall got to meet K!! Granted, he is acting like a two year old but he immediately said her name (Kennal)! We had a good time catching up on things and comparing parenting stories. We have GOT to make it down to SA to visit them. After dinner, we went to get gelato (yum) next door. This is where something has never happened...happened. K wanted to walk so he was just kinda walking around and then he noticed the gelato. He turned to Kendall and raised his hands so she would pick him up!! That is amazing! K never does that to new people. Must be that special K bond or something...who knows but I think it made Kendall's day!! Well, that and getting home to her guys!

Lent

Last night was our church's Ash Wednesday service. It is one of our favorite services. We usually have a Mardi Gras themed dinner and a jazz service. This year was bit different. The meal was fabulous!! Jambalaya, Dirty rice, Red beans, and bread pudding!!! So yummy!! K really enjoyed the Jambalya!! We had a wonderful dinner surrounded by our family. C's mom was able to join us and that made the meal even more perfect. It is always a joy to see K having a good time with his grandparents. C and I both have had close relationships with our grandparents and we pray that K has a very close relationship with his.
Due to a tighter budget, we did not have the jazz band that we usually have. Instead, we had a drama skit about sacrifices. Guess who was in it!! Me and C!! It was C's acting debut and he did fabulous!! He ad-libbed a few lines perfectly. I was impressed with my man!! The most touching part of the service is when the pastors put the ash crosses on our foreheads. We have made it a point to have K with us during certain traditions in church. When we have Communion, C goes and gets him so that K can take Communion. It warms my spirit to see K picking up on how we do certain things. He is still working on holding out his hands to receive bread but he really like the juice!! We took him forward with us to receive ashes. After we got our ashes, we go and paint a cross for each of us on banners. What is really cool is that previously in the service, we wrote on a card what we were giving up for Lent. The ushers collected the papers and took them outside and burned them into ashes. These ashes are then mixed in with the black paint we use to make our crosses on the banners. These banners will hang in the Sanctuary for the Lenten season. It is a joy to look up every Sunday and see the three crosses that represent our family!
So, what did I give up for Lent? I gave up the word "No". I seriously feel like that word is overused in my daily vocabulary. Plus, it seems to be K's favorite word. I am consciously aware of how much he learns from us, whether we want him to or not!! So far, it has been hard. I am having to make a conscious effort to think before I speak (hard for me to do!) I feel like this is something that I will not be able to do on my own, like give up chocolate or something. It is seriously a problem that I will need His help with!! Grant me patience and words of love, Lord!

Big shoes to fill

Some of my favorite pics of our nieces and nephews have been them trying on C's shoes.

Here's our youngest nephew C trying them out.

We have one somewhere of E wearing C's shoes. It is so precious but I have no idea where it is saved.

Trying On Daddy's Boots

A new word for the day - PARK!

C and I have been on a quest to find fun family things that are free to do that will keep us active. We do not want our kids to be inside kids. I personally feel closer to God when I am outside. While I don't enjoy getting up so early in the morning, I do get to see all of the beautiful sunrises that make me feel the wonder of God's creation. I really wanted to go out for a walk after dinner but I thought K might get too cold. C suggested that we all go to the park since K would be running around instead of riding in a stroller. Great idea!! And what made it even better was taking Duke with us. We stopped by to see if Pop wanted to go with. He enjoys spending time throwing Duke's toy and watching Duke go get it. We stopped by on our way out but he and GNanny were going out to dinner. We invited them to come along on their way and they took us up on the offer. There are a few things we figured out at the park.
One, K feels like he is too big for the kiddie playground. He spent the majority of the time climbing up the big kid's playset and sliding down the super fast slide. He seriously thinks he is years older than he really is!! His favorite thing to do was to climb up the big green climbing wall that leads up to the walkway that joins all of the slides. He would then run all the way to the end slide. He usually tried to just walk down the slide but we pretty much got him to sit down before heading down the steep part. Except for one time. He realized that while the slide is super fast, it is also super ouchy when you hit your head on it!!
Two, Duke loves it when you throw his green bouncy toy REALLY REALLY far. He starts before you let go and tries to beat it to it's landing spot.
Three, Duke loves climbing up the green climbing wall just as much as K does.
Four, and finally, Duke is my dog. C would throw the toy. Duke would run and get it and bring it to me!! He would also follow me up the green wall and walk around the walkway like he was my bodyguard.
When it started getting dark and Duke laid down on the ground, we decided it was time to go. It is amazing how a simple trip to the park gives so many things. And, hello!!! It's free!!

Last night, we were THOSE people

Last night, we met Chris's family for a birthday celebration dinner at Patrizio's in the Uptown in Cedar Hill. We found this place a few months ago and really like it. Good Italian for good prices. Plus, kids eat from Sunday-Thursday!! We were almost done with dinner. K had bowtie pasta and really did a good job of eating it up. He decided he wanted a bite of his aunt's pizza. I told him he needed to take a drink of milk so that he could swallow some of the food he had in reserve in his cheeks. He kinda choked on the milk and spit up a bit. Then he started crying probably because he was scared and a bit embarrassed. So C got up to take him to the bathroom to calm down and wash his hands. I set to cleaning up his highchair. Then the family told me that C needed me in the bathroom. I head over that way and that's when I see the reason why. Hansel and Gretel were so lucky that they left a cookie trail. I had a puke trail that went from the hallway to the men's restroom. It led to an even worse sight. C was holding K and they both had puke on them. K got most of it though. We rushed into the men's restroom and were both trying to figure out what to do. I started stripping K and C went and got our waiter. While we are in clean-up mode, our wonderful waiter brought us a trash bag for K's clothes. He also went and got our bill ready and boxed up our food. C gave him our card and everything was taken care of within 5 minutes. The manager also came in to see if we needed anything. He got someone on mopping up the floor while he squirted a bottle with the ever lovely orange stuff. His phone rang while this was all going on. The person must have asked him what he was doing because he said to them, "Actually, I am mopping up vomit." I literally felt myself shrink to about 3 inches tall. I felt so horrible and kept apologizing and thanking everyone. They really were nice about it and never made me feel like they were upset with the situation. I went into the women's restroom to change K into a new diaper. And I found out something I did not like about Patrizio's - NO CHANGING TABLE!! The only place I had to change K was the marble counter. He cried and cried since it was so cold. Fastest diaper change EVER!! We calmly made our way out of the restaurant. We stopped by the family table to tell everyone bye. As we left the table, a man at a nearby table stopped us and asked if K was ok. He said he hopes the little guy gets to feeling better. How sweet!! My son totally grossed you out with his re-enactment of Mt. St. Helens and you hope he feels better. Again, I felt 3 inches tall. And we headed out the door. I had K in my arms and he was only in his diaper. GREAT!! I'm sure we got some wonderfully spiteful looks but we have yet to remember to pack K an extra pair of clothes. And the worst part?? We didn't get any birthday cake!! And it was really good. A gal at our church made it and they are WONDERFUL!! R - just your kind of icing!! She's a stay-at-home mom so I like giving her some business.
On the way home, we were both silently praying that this did not mean that K had the dreaded flu that has been making the rounds. It is just not fun being around a sick kiddo since there's not much you can do to make them feel better.
K has been fine ever since. He woke up and was really hungry - go figure! We're just thinking this was a sign that we really need to get those extra clothes into his bag.
C is going to call Patrizio's and thank the manager and our waiter. He is also going to recommend they install changing tables. When we go back, we will definitely ask for the same waiter!!

Little blessing

So, C and I are still stuck about why K gets up so early. We are working on a set bedtime routine. We have K help us feed the dogs (It will be his job when he is older.) first and then we brush his teeth. Then it is story time in his bed. Prayers, hugs and kisses and then night-night. We are hoping that the routine will help calm him down so he can get that good sleep.
But I did have a revelation this morning. This year, my district changed out start time from 8:30 to 7:30. That means I have to leave the house around 6:45. Usually, K would sleep until 7 or 7:15 so I never got to see him in the mornings. I hated that!! But, this morning, I realized that with K waking up early, I get to see him in the mornings!! Totally changed my mindset about his early birdness. And this morning was a good one. He slept until 6:45. When it was time for me to go, i got my bye-bye kiss from him and then we went and found C. C picked up K and then leaned over to give me a kiss bye. K started saying, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" and then he leaned over and gave me another kiss!! What a sweetie!!! Totally made my heart fill up with butterflies. C and I made the decision that we wanted our kids to see us being affectionate to each other. To have K recognize this made it a good parent moment.

Menu Monday

No new recipes this week since we did not go grocery shopping
Monday: King Ranch Chicken
Tuesday: Dinner out For C's mom's b-day
Wed: Hot dogs at the church
Thurs: BBQ (new place on Main in GP - YUM!!)
Fri: Pasta
Sat: Dinner out (we're planning a "Thank God It is Over" dinner with my co-chair and her hubby!)

What a weekend!!

Time to be honest: I was DREADING this weekend. I have been working with another gal on a couples retreat at our church for Valentine's weekend. The past week has been rough. Our books weren't going to get delivered on time so we had to hunt around for extra copies. It was crazy!! Now that it has happened, I can honestly say that all of the stressed and fiasco was worth it. We started Friday night with a fun game. We had placed bits of ribbon around the Youth Building at our church. Couples had to go around and find the bits and tie them together. The couple with the longest ribbon won. It was hilarious!! Our minister's wife is very competitive. She about knocked over one lady to get a ribbon!! The material we used for the retreat was "Fireproof Your Marriage" which is based on the new Fireproof movie. It is fantastic material!! There are six sessions and each one is set up the same way. We'd watch a video clip from the movie and discuss. Then we would read parts of scripture and discuss as a group. Then everyone would answer some questions on their own. The last thing was that the couples would go somewhere private and share their answers to the questions. There were some easy answers and there were hard ones. I personally found that this last part was my favorite since it was a chance for Chris and I to talk about us without any interruptions. I realized that we are not active in working on our marriage. We kinda just let things go their usual way and that's not fair to either of us. One of the sessions had the scripture that talked about how God knew me when he was knitting me in the womb. One lady said that it just hit her that as God was knitting her, he was making her for her husband and vice versa. What a thought!! It took my breath away to realize that the same way true for me and C!!
We played games during the breaks and my co-chair did a great job of finding fun games. We did a Valentine's Mad Lib. We played the Not-so-Newlywed Game. Our last game was Family Feud with gals against guys. The guys won but they gave their prize, a chocolate bar, to their wives - smart guys!!
Saturday night was our date night. All of the couples returned to the church for dinner and a movie. We had an unbelievable dinner catered by Mirepoix catering. There wasn't a lot of talking while we were eating since the food was that good!! Each couple had their own little table that we had decorated with confetti and their goody bag. We also asked each couple what their song was and complied all of the songs onto a cd. Each couple also received a cd with their goody bag. After dinner, each couple had couch to cozy up in with their partner. We watched the movie "Fireproof". If you haven't seen it, see it!! It is done by the guys who did "Facing the Giants". This movie was one that gave you such a powerful message without overpowering His word. That's a hard thing to accomplish!!
I feel that this was the best Valentine's ever for C and I. We were able to not worry about how K was doing since we had some great babysitters taking care of him. We were able to talk about some things that we just don't have time to give serious discussion and thought.
Being the GT kid that I am, I was constantly worried if people liked it or not. I mean I want people to feel like it was worth the time and money. After Friday night, I didn't worry about it anymore because I was having a great time! People are going to get out of it what they need to and I can't do a thing about that.
I think another thing I enjoyed is the great mix of couples we had. There were ten couples. Some had been married for under ten years and some were nearing the century mark. One couple was just dating!! Everyone felt comfortable speaking their mind which added to the great discussion. I feel like we were an intimate group since it was so small. I wouldn't have changed that for anything! We only had enough seating and couches for 10 couples!!
I also found a scripture to add to my favs list: John 4:19. So true!!

A-ha!

So, I think I might have figured out why K is waking up so early. This morning, I was kinda snoozing and heard a loud thud come from his room. We moved him out of his crib a while ago. He's not ready for a big boy bed. We just have a twin mattress on the floor. He can't roll out since we have it shoved into a corner with a safety net railing on one side. So, he rolls into the walls. I'm thinking that when he rolls into the wall that it wakes him up and he decides it is time to get up. Now the hard part is trying to figure out how to prevent him from smacking into the wall. We might try putting his stuffed animals around the edge of the bed and see if that works. Granted, that might not be the problem. Then we'll be back at square one.

Our early bird

So, the early mornings continue. K has been waking up around 5:30 or 6 in the morning. Not so bad during the week but a killer on the weekends. We are trying to figure out what we can do to get him to sleep longer. We tried putting him to bed later but no luck. We tried giving him some milk before bed (we did brush his teeth afterwards) but no luck. We are starting to feel like we did when he came home from the hospital due to the lack of sleep. We have started going to bed around 9. We are seriously not old enough for that!!! When he wakes up before our alarm clock goes off, we put him back in bed. He will get up again and we will put him back in. This cycle goes on until the alarm goes off and we're getting ready for the day. We are trying to convey to him that he doesn't get up until Mr. Sun is out but it is a total work in progress. I have already told him that when he is a teenager and trying to sleep until noon that I will gladly be running into his room before the sun comes up and wake him up!!

Gotta love the zoo!!

We had a great time with our company this weekend. While all going to the zoo did not work out, the Teubners were able to go. It was great weather Saturday morning and we got there when it opened. It was such a joy to ask K what animals did he see and he would tell you!! He really liked the meerkats (kept telling the to "Come here!") and, of course, the elephants! I also packed his animal picture book so that we could show him some new animals, like the ostrich and kookaburra bird. The funniest thing happened when we were in the penguin exhibit. This was the first time that it wasn't totally crowded so K was able to get up on the ledge and walk around a bit. There was one penguin swimming. He kept swimming right past K's face. That just made him giggle. He also kept telling the penguin, "Hi!" C stood by him but I took the time to sit back and just enjoy watching my little guy. He is so amazing to us!! We sit back often and ask each other what did we do to deserve him? I don't think we will ever know!
Another funny happened when we were watching the kangaroos. There was a mom there with her two boys, the oldest was around 4 or 5. She pointed out the kangaroos and the oldest by said something to her that we could not hear. She let out a long breath and said, "I don't know who his archenemies are." We died laughing!!

Menu Monday errrrrr Tuesday

Last week was a busy week and this one should be too! We are looking forward to some vacation time - just don't know when that will happen!!



Monday - Chicken and Potatoes

Tuesday - Taco Soup

Wednesday - Spaghetti @ the church

Thursday - King Ranch Chicken

Friday & Saturday - Out (We are having a couples retreat at the church!!)

Verdict on the Chicken Potato Casserole: YUM!! Think super easy chicken pot pie without the crust!! I had to add some spices to it to give it flavor but it is a recipe that you can really play with and get different tastes.

Menu Monday

Well, we sorta already fell off the menu wagon since we decided that we were both too tired to cook last night. We had our annual chili cook-off at church which C was in charge of. Needless to say, he was beat!! So, we're doing a few minor adjustments!!



Monday - Indian

Tuesday - Tamales (homemade by the mother of one my students!!)

Wednesday - Tacos @ church

Thursday - Chicken Potato Casserole

Friday - Dinner out

Saturday - Dinner out

As you can see, we have some guests coming in from out of town. A good friend of ours from college and her fiance are coming into town. His daughter lives up here so we're all going to the zoo on Saturday. We are so excited since K is doing such a great job identifying and mimicking the animals. We are then going to have some adult time Sat night and go to a wine and cheese party that a friend is hosting. Don't know if we will make church!!

Got a new recipe to try this week. C did some searching on-line and found some new things to try. Our beloved freezer supply is running low so we want to fill it back up. I usually bake like crazy for a week but it is super expensive all at once. We have decided that it might be easier to try a new recipe a week and also make a family fav and freeze it.

Note: I accidentally bought cream of mushroom soup. Also, I decided to use crunched up goldfish instead of chips. We have goldfish on hand!!
Ingredients:
10 oz. can condensed reduced fat and sodium cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1-1/4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
3-1/2 cups frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1-1/2 cups frozen peppers and onions, thawed
1-1/4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1-1/2 cups crushed potato chips
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine soup, sour cream, milk, chicken and 1-1/4 cups cheese. Spread three-quarters of this mixture in a greased 2-quart baking dish.
Sprinkle hash browns and peppers and onions over the top of the casserole and press down lightly, then top vegetables with remaining soup mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and potato chips.
Bake casserole, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving. 8 servings
To freeze, assemble casserole as directed, except do not thaw potatoes, peppers, or onions and do not sprinkle with potato chips. Wrap casserole in freezer wrap or heavy duty foil and freeze. Reserve potato chips in pantry. To thaw and bake, let thaw overnight in refrigerator. Uncover and bake at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes until bubbly. Then top with crushed potato chips and bake 5-10 minutes longer.